Chapter 21

The gas station was more run-down than Jiang Shan could have imagined. Two fuel pumps stood alone by the road, grey and covered in something like cobwebs.
It looked as if it had been abandoned for decades.
But fuel pumps hadn’t even existed that long.
She was shocked and confused.
Zhang Zheng and the burly man went over to check. They came back even more dejected. “Everything’s eroded. Nothing’s usable.”
Zhang Zheng touched the pump’s nozzle through his glove. In that instant Jiang Shan saw something impossible—the whole nozzle crumbled like ash from his palm, like a handful of dust.
She had thought she couldn’t be shocked again. But this went beyond anything she knew. Then a breeze came—and the clearly metal nozzle scattered like powder, like ash.
She stared. Was she hallucinating again? What had she seen?
Zhang Zheng, who had actually touched the nozzle, didn’t seem surprised. He was just more frustrated. “Can’t find anything usable. The truck won’t make it another kilometre.”
Jiang Shan’s mind was still struggling with it. Metal—how could it turn to dust in an instant?
Even rusted metal didn’t turn to ash.
Zhao Ying stayed calm. “This station has an underground storage. They usually keep spare supplies there.”
If they could find a fuel line and a nozzle, they could refuel.
But any unfamiliar place was full of unknowns.
Zhang Zheng seemed to have made up his mind. He gritted his teeth. “I’ll go to the storage alone. Lao Gao, you stay here and guard the truck.”
Zhang Zheng called everyone “Lao”—he was the youngest, barely twenty. He acted harsh and cold, but when it mattered he took responsibility and stood by his team.
He wiped his face unconsciously—his hand hit the visor. After that gesture his expression took on something resolute.
No matter what, this truck was their only transport. They couldn’t lose it too.
“Hey, have you noticed that girl keeps staring at us?” Zhao Ying tugged his sleeve. She broke his resolve.
Zhang Zheng paused and turned. Jiang Shan had gotten out at some point and was standing not far away, watching them.
Over the past few days she had had to get out now and then for nature’s call—like eating and drinking, they couldn’t stop her.
“What’s she looking at? It gives me the creeps.”
Zhao Ying swallowed. “Don’t you think she’s really not… normal?”
After days of watching Jiang Shan closely, they had found her even more silent than they’d thought. She ate when hungry, slept when tired, got out to pee, got in and closed her eyes. Like a quiet, routine cat.
But how could anyone be that routine?!
Zhang Zheng, already an irritable driver, was even more annoyed when Jiang Shan came up. And now she was walking straight toward them.
“Damn it, wh-what does she want?” They both panicked as she approached.
But Jiang Shan wasn’t heading for them. She stopped in front of the fuel pump and looked up at the machine.
The whole pump was covered in a dark, rust-like substance. She reached out as if to touch it, then drew her hand back.
Zhao Ying watched her movements in horror, not understanding what the girl was doing now.
She was afraid of Jiang Shan getting close.
Jiang Shan just stood in front of the pump, dazed, the image of the nozzle turning to ash still replaying in her mind.
Zhang Zheng had had enough of her. He turned and walked toward the iron door to the storage. The door was even more thickly covered in dark rust; the lock was twisted into a ridiculous shape.
On the wall beside it was written: Storage area. No entry.